Empty Night
by lawnmowerelf
Summary: A series of independent one-shots based off prompts from Paranormal25 on LJ.


Psychometry

Blaine was still a kid the first time it happened. He'd accidentally brushed his fingers against his father's antique clock, the one he'd been told over and over never to touch in case he broke it. The instant his fingers made contact with the cool metal he yanked his hand back, his mind suddenly filled with pain and grief and other things that he didn't even have words for.

He could feel tears starting to slide down his cheeks as he backed away from the clock, the hand that had touched it cradled against his chest. He eased his way to his room, not taking his eyes off the clock until it was out of sight as he went up the stairs. Then he ran for his bed, pulling the blankets up over his head and curling into as small a ball as he could manage.

He never told his parents what happened, and he stayed as far away from the clock as possible from then on.

It happened again when his aunt gave him a slightly worn and well-loved teddy bear that had belonged to his grandmother. He knew his father was looking at him in disapproval as he hugged the small brown bear, but he didn't care. Unlike touching the clock, touching the bear felt like hugging pure love.

It was years before it happened again. The bear still radiated love whenever Blaine touched it, though he'd taken to only hugging it when he felt particularly bad, just in case it had a limited amount of love in it. And he'd desperately wanted to ask for it while he was lying in a hospital bed after the Sadie Hawkins dance had ended with a severe beating, but he was afraid to let his father know that he still had it.

So he had suffered in silence until the day he was released from the hospital. He started to slowly head up to his room for the first time in days when his father stopped him with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"I know I'm horrible with words, and I'm pretty oblivious when it comes to emotional things. But there are two things that I need you to know, Blaine, and I should have said them before now." His father reached in his pocket and pulled out a small package, placing it in Blaine's hands. "I love you, and I'm proud of you. Never forget that." He flashed Blaine a small smile, then nodded towards the stairs. "Now get up to bed, okay?"

Blaine nodded absently, then flung his arms around his father, ignoring the flair of pain from his ribs. "I love you, too."

He headed to his room, closing the door and sitting on his bed before turning his attention to the small package his father had given him. He pulled off the paper and opened the box to reveal his father's pocket watch. The pocket watch that his grandfather had given his father when he graduated college.

He gingerly reached for it, eyes closing when he touched the gold. It felt like pride and admiration, pride that his grandfather had for his father and pride that his father had for him. Blaine pulled the watch from the box and held it to his chest. He still didn't know how his strange power worked, but at the moment he really didn't care. All that mattered was that it gave him the ability to feel his father's pride in him. And if he ever doubted, he could just hold the watch.

When he transferred to Dalton the bear and watch went with him. For the first few weeks the bear stayed on his bed in his dorm, the reassurance he got from it worth any funny looks his roommate might send him. He carried the watch in the pocket of his blazer so all he had to do was slip his hand in his pocket to feel his father's pride again.

Eventually they both moved to his dresser, the pocket watch only coming out when he needed a little extra boost. It came out for his first round of finals at Dalton, for his Warblers audition, and for the first time he came out at Dalton.

He carried it again the day he was going to sing his first solo as a Warbler. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and slid the watch out of his pocket, soaking up the wonderful feelings radiating from it.

Then someone tapped him on the shoulder, and a moment later his power activated for a fourth time when he shook the strange boy's hand. He felt pain and shame and such an overwhelming tiredness and misery that he had to do something.

So he took the boy's hand and all but dragged him to the Senior Commons, where he proceeded to sing his heart out directly to this sad boy. To Kurt.

And he told himself that he would find some way to make things better for Kurt, some way to take away at least some of the other boy's pain. After all, maybe that was what his ability was for. Either way, it just wasn't in Blaine to sit back and do nothing when he could help. Besides, behind the pain and weariness there was something in Kurt that called to Blaine. And not just because he could see himself in the other boy.

No, there was something special about Kurt, and Blaine was determined to find out what it was.


End file.
